


The Darkness of the Labyrinth

by dexstarr



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Arousal from danger, Choking, F/F, Femslash, Girls Kissing, Kissing, Mythology References, The Wrath of the Lamb Didn't Happen, chiyoh pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-14
Updated: 2017-08-14
Packaged: 2018-12-15 02:32:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11796600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dexstarr/pseuds/dexstarr
Summary: Bedelia Du Maurier is spread out underneath her.Chiyoh’s not sure what she expected.





	The Darkness of the Labyrinth

**Author's Note:**

> _Hannibal_ is not mine and no profit is made from this work.

Chiyoh’s not sure what she expected. 

Bedelia Du Maurier is spread out underneath her, a pale slash of moonlight on the dark grey sheets, composed and refined even though Chiyoh’s mouth is perilously close to her sex. 

She expected that. The woman survived months living with her brother as his wife and cover, years before that as his psychiatrist. Dangerous paths, both, and Bedelia survived. Thrived, even, if her continued freedom and lecture circuit are anything to go by. 

“What are you thinking?” 

“That you’re an enigma,” Chiyoh says truthfully, not up for the game of winding her way through the labyrinth of Bedelia’s truths and lies. Anticipating the follow-up question, she adds, “And that I want to solve you.” And she does; she wants to know what makes Bedelia sigh and moan and maybe even beg. 

Bedelia laughs. The sound is like fog, low and hanging seductively in the air. “As I want to solve you.” She rolls her shoulders, drawing Chiyoh’s eyes to her breasts, already dotted with kiss marks. “I did not expect to see you again.” 

After their encounter in Florence, Chiyoh made sure their paths intertwined again. She was intrigued by the slight woman who matched her so easily, and then played with _la polizia_ while drugs swam in her blood. She had heard of Bedelia from Hannibal’s letters, but seeing and hearing her was different. Bedelia has a way of speaking that leaves Chiyoh thinking about the simplest sentences for hours and days afterwards. “I was curious,” she says finally, lips moving along Bedelia’s inner thigh. 

“I approve of curiosity.” Bedelia’s hand lands on Chiyoh’s head, elegant fingers twisting through her hair. 

Now Chiyoh laughs, and she’s pleased when a tremor runs through Bedelia at the vibration, because her mouth is so close to where Bedelia really wants it. “I wouldn’t care if you didn’t approve.”

“Well then,” Bedelia says dryly. “I have been unchallenged as of late. You are the thread Ariadne gave to Theseus, my key out of the dullness of my cage.” 

“I always thought Theseus was a bloody idiot, to kill the Minotaur and leave Ariadne behind.” Chiyoh’s shocked when Bedelia nods in agreement. “You can tell I’m your savior after one night?” 

“I have excellent instincts.” 

Chiyoh isn’t so sure about that, but her mind always circles back to Bedelia’s survival, and the lack of scars. Bedelia is the only one of Hannibal’s to escape unscathed. Physically, that is — but why ruin such artwork? Even nude and sex-tousled, skin flushed with arousal, Bedelia is … _Bedelia._

Chiyoh wants to capture her restrained vitality a hundred different ways, to have Bedelia in her memory palace for all time. Walking through the restored hallways in couture. Lounging on the bed like a queen. Sitting in the library, languidly holding a glass of wine.

Forget Ariadne. Here is her very own Helen of Sparta, beautiful and ingenuous and charming.1

(Maybe not charming, but Chiyoh’s willing to overlook that minor flaw.)

Dislodging Bedelia’s hand with a shake of her head, Chiyoh sits up. “You like danger, don’t you?” she purrs, her own hand circling Bedelia’s flawless throat. When her thumb and forefinger apply pressure, Bedelia’s pulse beats against her palm, faster than when she came. Bedelia doesn’t move away but arches up into Chiyoh’s hold. 

Chiyoh likes it, and likes how Bedelia’s eyelids flutter when she squeezes a little more, and how she can feel her struggle to inhale. 

Tonight is a night of surprises and the unexpected. Which she _did_ predict, and more than partially why she sought out Bedelia Du Maurier again. 

If anyone is worthy of her devotion, it’s this woman. 

They can dash their wings against the veil, dance on the lines of morality, challenge each other in ways no one else can. 

Chiyoh slides her hand up Bedelia’s neck, thumb tracing her bottom lip. “Shhh,” she says, smiling at the disappointed sigh. “What fun is an enigma if I solve it in one night?”

“No fun for you at all.” Bedelia nips the pad of her thumb. “Not to mention, I would be quite insulted.” 

“I wouldn’t want that,” Chiyoh says, moving so she’s sitting over Bedelia’s hips, body weight holding her against the bed. Leaning down, she kisses her, mapping the shape of Bedelia’s mouth. Bedelia is her key too, her guide to a life of new days and nights. Her hunting jesses will go to a new keeper; Chiyoh still isn’t comfortable in her unexpected freedom. 

Bedelia pulls away first this time, but that’s so she can control the next one, hands back in Chiyoh’s hair, cradling the back of her head. The kiss is tender and gentle until it’s not, Bedelia finishing with sharp teeth. “I will not solve you in one night, either.” 

“No.” Faces still close, they share a breath. “I’ll give you a clue: I am a different person at night.” 

“Aren’t we all?” 

“No,” Chiyoh says again. “Some of us dream, some of us do not.” 

Curiosity lights in Bedelia’s blue, blue eyes. “And what do you dream about?” 

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” Chiyoh taps her nails along Bedelia’s throat, lingering where she squeezed earlier. “You will learn, if you wish.” Just as she will learn about Bedelia, her desires and her dreams, perhaps someday reaching the point where she isn’t always surprised by her. 

Chiyoh’s addicted after one night, something else she didn’t expect.

**Author's Note:**

> 1 is from _History of the Fall of Troy_ by Dares of Phrygia.
> 
> ♥ to my best bud [whiteberry](http://archiveofourown.org/users/whiteberryx) for reading and support.
> 
> Come visit me on [tumblr!](http://galacticcoyote.tumblr.com/)


End file.
